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Land Registry: Annual house price growth drops to 1.5%

Annual house price growth fell for the seventh consecutive month to 1.5% in December 2010, according to the Land Registry.
The average monthly house price in England and Wales dropped by 0.2% to £163,814 at the end of last year.
The Land Registry reported that its latest figures showed there was an average of 55,944 house sales per month in England and Wales in October 2010, compared to 64,736 the year before – a drop of 15%.
The divide between the North and the South remained prominent with London’s annual house price inflation running at 6.2%, while the North East experienced a price fall of 3.3% last year.
Philip Clarke, director of Fisher Property Services, said that the sharp regional variation in house prices is likely to continue over the course of 2011.
He said: “A shortage of stock in the capital, coupled with relatively high demand, both domestic and international, is driving prices up. London looks set to defy the downward pressure on prices that other areas of the country, regions in the North especially, are experiencing.”
He added: “Good properties in sought-after areas will continue to command good prices, whereas undifferentiated properties in areas where unemployment is rising more sharply could see price falls in the high single digits over the course of the year. The North’s heavy reliance on the public sector and industry means further price falls are almost inevitable.”

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